In response to tighter guidelines recently imposed by environmental and regulatory agencies, the control of pollution, silt and sediment found in storm water runoff and other sources of water is receiving ever-increasing attention at all levels of federal, state, and local government. Federal and state agencies have issued mandates and developed guidelines regarding the prevention of non-point source (storm water caused) pollution that require action by governmental entities. These mandates affect the management of water runoff from sources such as storms, slopes, and construction sites. In addition, there are many other laws and regulations in place that restrict the movement or disposal of significant amounts of water. Such laws and regulations have a significant impact on, for example, the ways that states, municipalities, highway authorities and other responsible bodies can drain or otherwise dispose of storm runoff or other water falling on or passing over highways, roadways, parking lots and the like.
Grassy swales, also known as grassy drainage swales, vegetated swales, or simply “swales,” are a common and well known way of filtering, treating and/or draining storm runoff or other dirty water that falls on and/or passes over highways, roadways, parking lots and the like. Such swales are routinely designed as one or more parts of an overall drainage infrastructure for storm water runoff, along with other less aesthetically pleasing elements, such as gutters, darns, sewers, aqueducts and the like. Unlike many of these other structures, however, grassy swales are preferred for their more pleasing appearance and their ability to provide a natural means for filtering and otherwise treating passing storm water or fluid runoff.
In a typical application, a swale is specifically sized to handle the estimated amount of runoff from an adjacent land improvement for a given time period, for example, ten years. At that time, the party responsible for the swale, such as a municipality, highway authority, developer or property owner, will typically conduct a reconstructive overhaul or replanting of the grass layer in the swale, as it is only a matter of time before pollutants and contaminants overrun the grass and topsoil layers of the swale. Frequently, such an overhaul or reconstruction may be needed ahead of schedule, due to the generally incessant flow of chemicals and pollutants from roadways and similar structures that are washed into swales and drainage systems by storms and other runoff events. Such overhauls or reconstructions are costly and time consuming, and additional problems may ensue in the event that they are delayed or needed ahead of schedule. For example, a weak or failing swale may undesirably pass an inordinate amount of pollutants, sedimentation and other debris onward into a subsequent drainage system during the time that it takes to overhaul or replant the swale. In addition, as regulations tighten or various applications require a higher standard of filtration or pollutant removal, many typical swales and other current methods and systems for removing pollutants or silt may prove to be inadequate.
Similarly, sidewalk cross drains are also commonly used to filter, treat, or drain storm runoff or other dirty water that falls on or passes over highways, roadways, parking lots and the like. As in grassy swales, sidewalk cross drains are routinely designed as one of many parts of an overall drainage infrastructure for storm water runoff, along with other elements, such as gutters, dams, aqueducts, and the like. Although sidewalk cross drains are useful for their ability to treat water in a small area in the ground underneath narrow sidewalks, increased filtering capacity is desired to adequately treat water before it enters subsequent drainage systems.
Accordingly, there exists a need for more effective methods and apparatuses for filtering and treating polluted or dirty water, such as storm water runoff, falling on or passing over highways, roadways, parking lots and the like. In particular, there exists a need for alleviating the work load that is carried by some grassy swales and sidewalk cross drains in terms of the amount of sedimentation, silt, pollution and other unwanted items that they are required to remove over the course of their life spans.